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Anthony Albanese has claimed victory in the Australian Federal Election on behalf of the Australian Labor Party, after Scott Morrison (ScoMo) of the Liberal and National Coalition conceded defeat in the race to form the country's next government.

While votes continue to be counted, it was determined by all media networks and both major political parties that the Australian Labor Party will lead a minority or majority government in the nation's 47th Parliament, making Mr. Albanese the 31st Prime Minister.

The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) has congratulated Prime Minister-elect Anthony Albanese on his victory, and wrote to express their commiserations to Scott Morrison and his colleagues.

The ANC-AU met with many candidates, including members of all parties and independents, in Armenian-populated seats, as well as in electorates with large representations of Assyrian-Australians and Greek-Australians – who are partners in the Joint Justice Initiative to achieve recognition of the 1915 genocides – during pre-election, and delivered a report to the community.

Many of these seats have proven to be highly consequential in the final result of the polls, which has seen electorates including North Sydney, Mackellar, Goldstein, Wentworth and Fowler tipped to change hands, among others. A large number of seats with outspoken supporters of Armenian-Australian issues have also been returned to parliament.

The largest Armenian-populated Federal electorate of Bennelong remains on knife's edge, with Jerome Laxale and Simon Kennedy – both strong supporters of issues important to Armenian-Australians – still being counted.

These elections were dominated by issues around the economy, climate change, health, gender equality, government accountability and security. Results so far confirm that up to one-third of Australians elected to vote for candidates who do not belong to one of the two major parties in Federal Parliament, in what is an historic outcome for the country.

The Armenian National Committee of Australia will release an update to this statement once outcomes are confirmed in coming hours and days.

The ANC-AU congratulates all candidates for their campaigns, their service and their commitment to engage on the public affairs needs of Armenian-Australians.

The ANC-AU celebrates with those who have won the right to represent their constituencies as part of the 47th Parliament of Australia, and joins with those commiserating their losses.

The ANC-AU pledges to immediately recalibrate, strategise and begin engagement with the new Government, Opposition and cross-benches to continue advancing issues important to the Armenian-Australian community, including the rights to self-determination for the indigenous Armenians of the occupied Republic of Artsakh, a sustainable Republic of Armenia, Federal recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and support for the Armenian-Australian community.

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- Armenian National Committee of Australia (21 May 2022) -